this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025
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What is a third person honerific for nonbinary individuals? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 days ago by mlegstrong@sh.itjust.works to c/asktransgender@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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What word would be the equivalent for sir or ma’am for a person not in the gender norm. I like greeting strangers with it while working retail & have always wondered what would be the right why to respond to someone who did not want to be called either sir or ma’am.

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I really wish there was one that's already built consensus. I've asked about this on reddit, in meat space, here on lemmy, and other places with not even a front runner for a widely accepted option.

The closest I've seen is in socialist spaces, where comrade replaces all other honorifics.

There's great value in the formality of honorifics, and having a gender neutral option would go a long way to cracking one of the language barriers. It may seem like small potatoes, but not having a formal honorific is as big an issue as the struggle for the singular they/them. It really would help tip thinking towards non binary and gender neutral people as being respectable (by people that find it easy to dismiss them).

It's fine if individuals don't want honorifics at all for themselves, but there's a need for it for general use.

[–] mlegstrong@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

Thank you comrade for the info maybe this could be my go too should I need it. It should work unless I come across a capitalist gender neutral person.